Over the last decade or so, for most businesses, it has become a necessity for employees to share data over an enterprise network featuring one or more local area networks. To improve efficiency, enhancements have been added to a local area network such as remote wireless access. This enhancement provides an important extension in forming a wireless local area network (WLAN).
Typically, a WLAN supports communications between wireless devices and Access Points (APs). In general, each AP operates as a relay station by supporting communications with both wireless devices being part of a wireless network and resources of a wired network.
In order to effectively service multiple wireless devices that receive and transmit information on different channels through the AP to other wireless devices and to the wired network, APs typically perform some sort of channel scanning functionality. Typically, the AP will periodically scan other channels, to measure coverage and interference characteristics.
However, when the AP is scanning other channels, it cannot service wireless devices on its current operating channel. Present methods for channel scanning employed by APs are inefficient in that they do not take into the amount and type of wireless traffic in making channel scanning decisions.